


Savior

by ribonhwa



Category: the GazettE
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 17:47:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1908126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ribonhwa/pseuds/ribonhwa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After seeing the bruises on Ruki's back, Reita wanted to help the other boy, to save him somehow. He just wasn't sure how. Eventually he just might.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The one every author must have; a school fanfic, with the boy with big problems at home, and the other boy, who wants to help him.  
> First chapter around their first encounter.  
> Enjoy !

He'd planned this for a bit over a week, thinking about it at both at home and school. It had made Akira Suzuki, also known as Reita, a little unfocussed on daily matters for that while. His mother had noticed, and so had his friends; he had to do this now, before he could no longer keep this a secret.

Reita could still feel his heart pounding with incredible force, like it trying to escape his chest, because he knew this was the moment. There was only so many ways to approach a person, he'd told himself, trying to muster up courage. Even if he had thought about the best possible ways to do this, he couldn't think of any particularly good one, so he would have to go with what he had.

He had never really talked with the boy before, had hardly noticed him at all, before this past week he'd become too familiar with the sight of him as he'd been watching him all the time: in the few classes they shared, in the corridors of the school and in the cafeteria. His chopped hair was bleached, the smooth skin of his face was pale, and now that Reita actually was looking intently he was sure it was concealed by make up, and his eyes were done with some black eyeliner. He was shorter than Reita, he wasn't sure by how much, and the body was covered by their school uniforms blue pants, blazer and a plain white button-up shirt underneath, with it's buttons done up almost all the way. Matsumoto Takanori, he remembered the name by now.

Reita let out a small sigh as he watched the other pack away his stuff from their class, and second-guessed if this was the right time after all. It seemed the best time in all the week, because rather few people took Advanced English, making them a class of only six students all together, and it was the last lesson of the day leaving both him and Matsumoto without significant peers. If he didn't do this now, he knew he would have to wait another week for a chance, and he was certain he couldn't bear that.

Matsumoto was already making his way out of the classroom offering an official goodbye to their teacher and walking with his head held high. Reita hurriedly grabbed his own blazer from his desk and offered a goodbye to their teacher as well, most of the class still lingering behind to pack up their stuff.

"Excuse me", Reita spoke in a little bit louder voice than he was used to and immediately felt uncomfortable with that. He ran a few steps to catch up with Matsumoto, who had turned to look at him with curious, dark eyes. The pounding of Reita's heart was not making this any easier on him as he tried to find the words to say. "I was wondering if I could talk with you a moment?" he asked in a mumbled voice looking down not really feeling able to look into the other's eyes - he still had problems looking his friends in the eyes, he was a mess with strangers.

"Why?" The question was a bit wary and Reita could feel the other's eyes on him still making him uncomfortable. There really wasn't much time to get the other on board with this before the others would be coming down this corridor as well, he would have to convince the boy now.

"I just have some things to say", Reita continued feeling like he was fighting a loosing battle, and knowing he was so when the other shot him a bored look, before turning on his heels and continuing down the corridor. "Wait!" He ran after the other and caught up. "It's just… I saw those bruises on you last week and…" he tried to talk as the other kept walking faster and faster and he tried to keep up. His speech came to a stop, when Matsumoto's steps did. The look the other shoot him looked a little panicked, before Matsumoto narrowed his eyes in seemingly annoyance.

"You could mind your own business." The reply was mumbled in a low voice, but Matsumoto grabbed him by the hand to hurry them out of the building.

Reita was feeling more and more uncomfortable by the turns of this. He hadn't expected this to go like this, though he wasn't really sure how he'd imagined this to go. He followed the other outside and down to the street without resistance, but pulled his arm away, when they turned the opposite way of where he was supposed to walk home.

"Where are we going?" he asked in a voice, that sounded far too little for his own liking. It came out without his consent, in a moment of weakness, but he couldn't take it back. Matsumoto raised a skeptical eyebrow at him and smiled a little amused.

"To talk", he answered sounding more sure, and a lot more calm than he had seemed before. "You wanted to talk didn't you?" he asked.

Reita nodded, but wasn't feeling as sure anymore.

"Then come on", he said in a far too confident voice for such a young, small boy. The panic was gone from the steps he was taking hurriedly before, like Reita's hesitance had made it all disappear. Still he followed the other, not so sure if he should see this through anymore, but feeling like it wasn't an option anymore.

The space, where Matsumoto lead him to, was familiar enough: the one, where the boys of their school went to smoke. It was outside school grounds, behind a small grocery shop, which had basically nothing but the gray concrete ground, the dirty, white wall and the hard, stone stairs up to the backdoor of the store. The stairs was the place were most people sat smoking, and Reita had been back there a couple of times, mostly to keep company and for support, since he wasn't much of a smoker even after trying a couple of times.

Matsumoto obviously was, as the boy pulled out a pack of Marlboro Menthols. He climbed a few of the stairs and sat down to light his cigarette, not offering Reita one. He looked at the still standing boy with searching eyes and blew out some smoke.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

Reita was at a loss of words, not really knowing where to start. He had a clear vision of wanting to make this better, to somehow end up helping the other, but he had not planned out these steps from Matsumoto being in a bad place to getting the other to a better place. He could see now that they were clearly missing.

"Those bruises…" he answered and felt like it was the start of a sentence he wasn't capable of finishing. The rest was somewhere inside him waiting to be pulled out, to be put into words, but he couldn't find them, couldn't form them.

Matsumoto let out a laugh, not sounding amused, more like laughing at Reita's attempt at this.

"You can talk about them to your friends, they will all find more stuff to talk about, when that Shiroyama kid fails another class", he said in a defensive tone. The tough attitude was clearly faked, and looked too forced to be believable on the 14-year-old.

"I wasn't going to tell, I just…"

"You wanted to nose around about them? You want to know where they are from?" Matsumoto continued sounding more and more cornered by the moment. Reita could see the other realized that as the younger boy shut up and silence fell between them. Matsumoto had his eyes turned down to the ground as he continued smoking his cigarette.

"Not really, I just wanted to help you somehow", Reita offered and sighed at how lame he sounded. This seemed to get Matsumoto on his edge again as he looked at Reita with narrowed eyes and got down from the stairs putting out his cigarette and throwing it on the ground.

"I don't need your help", he said and walked past Reita. "Just keep your mouth shut about this", he added as he had passed and Reita looked after the small retreating figure.

 

\----

 

When he thought back to the moment he'd seen the bruises on Matsumoto's back, they were a little faded like memories usually was. He couldn't remember clear details, but he remembered going to the showers with the other boys, his towel around his waist like always. He remembered putting his towel on the rack along with all the other boys, feeling out the water from the shower with his hand first, before stepping in and soaking his head and body. Everything was the way it usually was after gym, despite them sharing the class with the younger boys.

That day Reita had just happened to forget his shampoo-bottle in the locker room. He left the showers, wrapping the towel around his waist once again. His dark hair was dripping with water and he rubbed his eyes, before he walked to the locker-room. The light from the high placed windows was bright compared to the artificially light in the showers, he was sure. He could remember being surprised that someone was in the locker-room, since he assumed everyone was showering and his eyes were draw in surprise to the movement of a boy pulling his large sweatshirt over his blonde head across the room.

He was almost sure that he gasped, when he saw the bruises on the slender back. The sounds coming from the showers must have been loud enough to drown it out for the younger boy to hear. His eyes scanned the bruised back as the boy bend down to retrieve his white button up shirt. Some parts were almost healed, looking a sick yellowish, other parts were darker, in the colors of purple and blue, obviously new. No matter how many times he thought back to that part, the bruises were always multiple in different colors. Even from afar he'd been able to make them out.

"Oh, you scared me."

He could even remember clearly the words Matsumoto had said to him, when the had turned around to notice him white shirt on and all buttoned up. The voice sounded like that of a normal 14-year-old boy. Maybe a little rough from the gym class, but still young. The boy had even smiled at him looking so small with no make up on and big, round cheeks puffing out with the smile.

And there had been no way, that Reita could stand by and do nothing if that little boy was being beat up regularly.

Back then, he hadn't been able to confront the other. Reita had always been more comfortable with being able to think about his options for some time before making any decisions or taking action. Of course he had to do something, but thinking of what to do was hard for him.

He'd decided to offer the other his help, not really knowing what else to do. And that hadn't exactly struck the other fancy.

Reita was still sure of what he'd seen. In his conversation with Matsumoto, there was not a moment, when the other had been denying the bruises either. But he was at a dead end, there was nothing he could do for the other, if Matsumoto didn't want any help. For all Reita knew, maybe the other wasn't in over his head with something he couldn't deal with, maybe he looked much smaller than he actually was.

So he continued on with his life; helped his mother at home, kept up in school, attended soccer practice, and was reminded of the young boy he wanted to help, mostly when he saw the other in the corridors.

Matsumoto was usually with friends that reminded Reita of the boy; with dark eyeliner, colored hair and stuff like that, and he was usually smiling. The younger boy avoided him. Not he had to try much to do that, they hardly had any classes in common with a one year age-difference. 

It took three weeks, before he started to realize that Matsumoto really was in too deep for the young boy to handle.

It was a cloudy evening, rather late by then, and he was sitting in his living room reading the newest volume of One Piece, when there was a knock on the door. He got up as quietly as he could, because he knew his mother and grandmother were already sleeping. Without question about, who was behind the door, he opened it, expecting Uruha to be standing there(drunk of his ass and too embarrassed to go home), but that wasn't the case.

Matsumoto Takanori was standing before him. His hair was messy, his lower lip was bleeding and swollen, which caught Reita's eye for the moment.

"You want to help, huh?"

The question was a little skeptical and the younger boy awaited his answer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Closer look into Ruki's life - have actually never written anything like this before with actual violence. Hope it turned out OK.  
> Enjoy !

Matsumoto Takanori, also known as Ruki, was used to living with a kind of uncertainty all of his young life. There were times, when he felt such strong hatred towards his father, and despised his mother for doing nothing to stop the things his father did. At the age of 14, he was old enough to know, which things were OK and which were not, and a lot of the things that happened at the Matsumoto residence were things that couldn't go beyond their apartment walls. Sometimes he thought he wouldn't deal with it anymore, he thought he would go away and never come back, but then came the good times.

There were days, when Ruki felt like things were like they were supposed to be; his mother was kind, his father was distant, but fair and he got the praise and affection he needed. This he didn't take for granted yet didn't know how to miss, when it was gone. Sometimes it even lasted as long as a few weeks, and while Ruki was a little wary, he appreciated the time.

In school he felt the most at ease, because there was not much to worry about there. He had enough friends to keep him company, enough of an attitude to fight of possible bullies. Making fun of the popular kids(the captain of the soccer team, Yutaka Uke, being his favorite target), he spent his days feeling good about, who he was in school. He was confident in act and speech, and felt safe that way.

He had put a whole lot of thought into not letting his weak points show, not wanting others to feel sorry for him because of his background or using it against him. That was why he was more than just a little panicked the moment he heard the soccer kid from his Advanced English class mention his bruises. He could have sworn his heart almost stopped, and he tightened his grip on his bag. It felt a lot like having someone knock down a house of cards, he'd fought so hard to keep standing. Because really his situation often felt like it was as frail as a house of cards, where a light wind could knock it over.

It happened to be on, what Ruki thought of as, a very lucky streak for him: he'd put in a lot of work in his English classes, and made it to the Advanced English one. It had made his mother happy, and his father told him he was doing good, which was the best praise Ruki had ever got from his father. And the young boy was very determined to keep things going well, and no soccer kid was going to change that.

After he thought he'd taken care of it, telling the other to leave the matter alone, he was still on edge. He looked over that the dark-haired boy the next day in the hallway. Despite how he acted he knew, if rumors started going around they would be a pain to kill.

"Who's the kid with the soccer captain?" Ruki asked the couple of friends he was standing with and nodded discreetly towards the group making it look like he was just pushing his blonde hair out of his eyes. His friends looked over with their interested, wide eyes, must less discreetly than he would have liked. He let out a sigh, but didn't say anything.

"Suzuki", Saga answered in a slow voice, trying to recall the name his long, slender nose wrinkled a little. He didn't sound too sure and looked over at Hitsugi to confirm what he guessed.

"Akira Suzuki, yes", Hitsugi said with a nod of his head.

"OK", Ruki said with a nod of his head, memorizing the name. He'd make sure to find out a lot about the boy, who dared to take pity on him. As much as he could, in case that boy would make things hard for him. "Didn't know a soccer kid would be smart enough to take Advanced English", he said in a mocking voice. "I thought they only knew how to kick around a ball." He had to somehow explain why he wanted to know the name, and his two friends laughed along with him.

 

What he could find out was limited, especially since he couldn't exactly just go around and ask people about the Suzuki boy. That would be more than a little suspicious and much more creepy than he wanted to act. But with a few conversation, which he could slip the boy into, he found out his address, phone number, that he lived with his sister, mother and grandmother and he had never known his father. Apart from the missing father, there seemed to be nothing too dramatic with their family, but then again wasn't anything too dirty always kept inside the household walls?

Most of this was revealed by Takashima Kouyou, who was a lot more friendly than Ruki had given the other credit for. One day behind the grocery store sitting on the stairs, they had a nice, long talk. There hadn't even been a need to encourage the other to talk, and after awhile it became clear Takashima had enjoyed a little more than just cigarettes.

"Maybe you should go home", Ruki said calmly with slight amusement to the other, when the other went on about what a great boy Reita was(apparently Suzuki Akira went by that name among friends). It was the end of the school day after all, and he was going to go home then. He put out his cigarette, by scraping it across the stone stair he was sitting on and threw it away, before getting up.

He didn't expect the subject of their conversation to walk almost into him as he turned the corner. Ruki could feel his heart speed up with nervousness. It was the kind he felt when he saw that boy, because despite having agreed to let his situation be, Ruki knew the other could change his whole world. And he suspected it wouldn't be for the better.

"Sorry", the taller boy apologized as he passed around him, seeming to be in a bit of a hurry. Ruki hurried along as well, not bothering to answer as the other was gone.

"Uruha, what happened, why weren't you in class?" He could hear Suzuki fussing over the state Takashima was in before he was out of hearing distance. It wasn't the first time for Takashima to be in a drunk state, and it happened to be lucky that Takashima wasn't in class this time. It seemed like Suzuki was going to take care of his friend, from his calm, comforting, slightly annoyed speaking.

For Ruki that was the moment he became sure that Suzuki wouldn't tell his secret. If he didn't spill about Takashima's drinking problem, he wouldn't tell about his problems either.

 

He'd learned from a young age to be very careful around his father. There were times, when he'd cringe only to have his head petted, and others were he'd unexpectedly got a punch in his back for nothing. At this point he never left his father out of his sight when in the same room, and knew not to expect anything because he could be very much wrong.

But then Ruki'd gotten too careless, a little too used to the good life, and he'd been a little too upbeat about his situation with everything - because even Suzuki knowing seemed to have worked out just fine. When he thought back upon, what happened he should have seen it coming, since his parents were nowhere to be seen. That sometimes indicated that his mother was passed out in their bedroom after abuse, both sexual and other. But nothing was really certain, when it came to things that happened inside their apartment walls anyways.

He'd gone home that day feeling hungry. Skipping lunch might not have been the best idea, but he'd gone with having a smoke rather than food. After school he'd been around with Hitsugi in stores, shoplifting a few new make up supplies. It was late, when he got home. It shouldn't really matter, since it was a friday(but he hadn't been given specific rules from parents either way).

He had closed the front door, dropped his bag and headed for the fridge, not able to focus on anything, but his empty stomach. Once again, when he thought back upon it, he should have noticed the empty bottles of beer in the living room and messed up carpet.

It wasn't until he heard footsteps coming to the kitchen that he knew something was up. It was everything about his father, when the man stepped into the kitchen, that warned him. The wobbly steps, the unfocussed eyes, undone pants and no shirt, the stench of beer and sweat. Ruki's eyes immediately searched the doorway to the kitchen, which was behind his father, but never let the man out of sight.

He didn't remember, what words were said, maybe something about how he was home too late. He remembered his heart racing, when those wobbly steps came closer and the stench of his father grew stronger. He ran counting on his father being drunk enough and be too disorientated to catch him. That wasn't the case, he'd realized, when his shirt was caught and a hard fist connected with his jaw roughly, but softer than he'd expected. It still hurt, and he could taste blood in his mouth.

Not wasting time, and out of pure instinct he pushed his father away. The man fell down on the kitchen floor cursing, but Ruki didn't stay around to listen as he ran for the front door grabbing his bag on his way out of the apartment. His heart was pounding, his jaw was aching and he didn't slow down until he was a block away.

There came a calmer after the storm, when his pulse and breathing slowed down, and his thoughts were able to focus on other things than solely surviving. There was anger, a lot of it, humiliation and strange kind of sadness - one that felt more like a frustration with his situation and asked the question, why things couldn't have kept going well. He could feel the tears start to flow down his cheeks, and he let them, but didn't stop walking aimlessly.

The streets were yellowishly lit by the streetlights and he walked on not bothering to fix himself up: his lip bleeding and blonde hair in disorder. There were no people around to see him in the neighborhood. Ruki liked how his mind was able to move on quicker, when he moved about, getting his thoughts forward along with his feet. Because he had to find a solution to this situation of his, not wanting to go back to his drunk father and coward of a mother.

Before he'd never had a choice, and had walked aimlessly until he had to go back hoping that his father had passed out - more often the case than not, and Ruki'd like to lock himself up in the bathroom for those sleepless nights looking through the damage done and fixing what he could.

This time he was sure that wouldn't be solution, it couldn't be. His luck had continued for over a month getting him too used to a normal kind of life, the life he would classify as good. The bruises on his back were all faded, none of them purple or black anymore, and he didn't want any of those anymore.

Sometimes he'd thought about telling Hitsugi, when his back had been burning with the pain sending hot flashes of agony through his whole body. But Ruki had been too proud, too fond of his status as the strong leader of his small pack to do that. There were people who lived through worse, he usually thought. But he was certain he deserved better.

That's when he thought of Suzuki Akira, who was from what he'd heard a warmhearted, kind Reita.

 

The good thing about walking through the city aimlessly on sleepless nights, was that he knew it inside out. Reita happened to live in a relatively nice neighborhood: not the most expensive one, but a quiet one with three bedroom houses build around. Ruki knew where it was, but had to go through a few streets, before he found Reita's house. It was at the beginning of a cul-de-sac and the blonde boy saw the lights on in one of the windows and recognized Reita to be sitting on the couch with his feet up underneath him - there was no mistaking this, since he'd spent quite some time watching the other boy, since Reita confronted him about his bruises.

It had been an hour's walk from where Ruki lived, but he thought it was a small price to pay to get away. There was no hesitating anymore, he'd prepared himself mentally while making his way to this destination, gone over all kinds of possible scenarios in his head, toughening his skin for the possible rejection. That pain would be nothing compared to the kind he'd already gone through, he told himself. Still his heart pounded loudly in his ears as he knocked softly, but firmly on the door.

It felt like a long time, before the door opened, a time he spent frozen to the spot, part of him wanting to run away, part of him feeling like crying, but majority of Ruki forcing himself to stay strong, head held high and keeping from shaking. Reita stood before him in the T-shirt and sweatpants, with his feet bare and a baffled look on his slender, boyishly handsome face. He looked different from when Ruki'd seen the other at school, more human instead of a near perfect student appearance, that he kept up there. It made him feel more at ease.

"So you want to help, huh?" Ruki asked in a steady, slightly smug voice. He looked on as Reita came around rather fast from there, very panicked.

"Yes, of course", he said hurriedly in hoarse voice, and moved out of the way for Ruki to step inside. 

Everything from there went rather smoothly for Ruki's part: he was showed a bathroom, where he cleaned himself up with a shower. Reita gave him clothes to put on, much similar to the ones the older boy was wearing himself.

What amused Ruki was that the black sweatpants had the number 7 and Suzuki written on them: obviously they were soccer practice sweats. They were a little big on him, but he felt more comfortable that way. The T-shirt Reita had provided him with was a problem. He'd rather not show the bruises on his arms, but it would have to do.

He felt along his cut lip, looking at himself in the mirror and thought it looked rather good for the time being. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, partly his washed out makeup and partly tiredness. He ran some water to wash the rest of it out, and then stepped out from the bathroom to find Reita waiting for him. He looked more concerned than before, eyeing Ruki like the younger boy was something that would fall apart at any given moment.

"Uhmm… You feel better?" he asked, in a quiet, low voice, clearly not feeling comfortable with the situation. Of course there wasn't exactly a protocol how to act here.

Ruki nodded his head. He did not like how Reita was looking at him, because even if it wasn't pity, it clearly indicated the other thought he was weak. "I'd like a long sleeve shirt and some food", he said in demanding voice, wanting the other to stop looking at him like a broken doll.

Reita complied to the demands, telling him to go to his room and look through the closet for the clothes he wanted. Ruki did as told, while Reita disappeared downstairs to the kitchen. He found something that covered him up good, the hem reached halfway down his thighs and the sleeves were much too long as well. He sat himself down cross-legged on the queen size bed that was placed underneath the window and waited for Reita to return.

It took a little while, in which Ruki felt uncomfortable. He wasn't sure what to do with himself, and looked around the room to find nothing much of interest. There were One Piece mangas lined up on the bedside table, a desk with school books and a small TV on it, and a big sports bag in the corner with a soccer ball beside it.

To Ruki it seemed as Reita was just as normal as his grades(which he had sneaked a peek at once, given the opportunity) and behavior spoke of.

When Reita arrived and the air started to smell like the food he brought with him, Ruki was reminded of his hunger. He ate with a good appetite, when he got it in front of him, mumbling a thank you. Reita nodded, not saying anything. He sat down on the bed, a good amount of space away from Ruki, and watched him eat. It probably would have bothered Ruki more if he hadn't been so hungry.

"So", Reita began while Ruki was still eating. Dark eyes were lifted to watch him speak, lifting an eyebrow in question. Ruki had his mouth full of food, so he couldn't question the boy in any other fashion, and he had nothing he wanted say anyways. "My mom and nana are sleeping, so it would be good if we could be quiet."

"You're the one talking away", Ruki informed the other having swallowed his food. Reita looked at him surprised and he couldn't help smirking satisfied.

"Yea", Reita said with a small chuckle. There was a small moment of silence, which left Ruki feeling satisfied: the other boy wasn't looking at him with pity (Reita wasn't looking at him at all, very focused on his own fingernails) and he felt like he had made a point of not being some poor little beaten up kid.

"We don't have a spare room, or a mattress or anything", Reita continued after the silence, getting Ruki's attention once more. The younger one had finished his meal and sat the plate away on the floor. "You can sleep on the bed if you like, it's big enough for two. I mean, if you plan to stay the night", he finished a little awkwardly. Wanting to keep the upper hand, and because he could, Ruki waited a while before answering.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to", he said. It was the most polite he could do at the given moment. Having to ask for help, having to be there at the mercy of someone, even someone as kind as Reita seemed to be, made him feel too small to be asking a whole lot all the time. Reita just nodded his head in agreement, not getting up and not lifting his eyes.

The conversation moved on ever as slowly, since neither seemed to have anything to say anymore. That wasn't exactly true, because Ruki knew all the questions Reita must have been dying to ask, all the things the other boy surely wanted to pry into. Those were all things that Ruki had already decided not to talk about, when he'd made the decision of coming here.

And at last the question came, when Reita looked at him, focussing his eyes on the no longer bleeding, but swollen lower lip of Ruki:

"Do you… What happened?"

Ruki could remember all the times his father had done something like this and the feelings it brought up every time. The fury, the humiliation, the sorrow all build up to a defense, that reacted immediately.

"That's none of your business", he said in cold voice looking at Reita with narrowed eyes. As he assumed the other looked away embarrassed muttering a sorry.

"I'll get you fresh sheets and a pillow", Reita excused himself and hurried out of the room not wasting time to clear the air.

Ruki was satisfied with how quiet and on edge Reita was, when he came back. He even thanked for the sheets he was handed, just to let the other know he wasn't mad. They went over, which side Ruki would sleep on, and got settled down.

"Good night", Reita offered him in a slightly stiff voice. He clearly didn't feel at ease or comfortable. 

Ruki on the other hand felt very comfortable, his body heavy as he felt so tired. The sheets smelled clean and he felt safe under them, warm and at ease. That was something he rarely felt like at home, and he found it a little curious how he felt that safe in a strange place.

He mumbled a reply to Reita, before he closed his eyes and slowly fell to a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment !


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And came the morning, and more about Reita's background and home.  
> Enjoy !

There were sounds coming from downstairs, and Reita was immediately awoken from his light sleep. His head felt slightly sore from the lack of sleep and heavy thinking of the night before. While Ruki had seemed quite at home after pulling the covers over his body and falling asleep, Reita had not been able to stop thinking about what was going to happen when the younger boy woke up and what had brought him there. It seemed clear to him, that Ruki was being physically abused, but he didn't know to what extent and by who. It just left his mind going through all the possibilities and the solutions to those.

Ruki was still asleep beside him breathing deeply with his back turned to Reita and covers pulled high. Reita tried to make as little noise as possible while getting up from the bed. His muscles complained as they were tired from a night of no sleep, of tossing and turning and being tensed. The floor felt cold underneath his bare feet as he set them down on it and his steps padded towards the door sounding much louder than he would have liked. Ruki didn't wake never the less. Not even the opening and closing of the door woke him.

His mother stood in the kitchen with her coat already on and a cup of coffee in her hands, when Reita arrived downstairs. She turned her dark eyes to look at him, when she heard him come in and smiled softly and tiredly. Despite the kind facial expression, Reita was unable to relax and cast his eyes down to the floor.

"Morning", she offered him with a sigh. Reita knew she would be leaving for work shortly and she was only enjoying the small moment of quiet and peace. "Did I wake you?"

"No", Reita mumbled averting his eyes from his mother. He'd had the habit of looking away from her, when he couldn't be sure of her reaction, or when he knew she was disappointed, mad or sad. He avoided the situations as much as he could. He respected her too much, appreciated the things she did and wanted her to be proud of him, seeking the approval she withheld for the most part. 

This wasn't a moment, where he could count on her to be proud of him, or to agree with him. It was questionable if there even were such moments, it usually depended too much on his mother's energy level and general mood. However she had never been too fond of Uruha coming over after drinking too much, why would Ruki be any different of a case? It made Reita very uneasy, since she was not as shy about voicing her disappointment as she was with her approval.

"Good", his mother replied absentmindedly and poured the rest of her coffee down in the sink and placing mug in there as well. "I have to get going", she then said and started walking towards the door.

"Hey mom", Reita said louder than before. He was under a time pressure, since she was leaving, and he had to tell her before she left. If she came home after a long day at work to find an unexpected houseguest, she would be less happy than she would be if she knew about it beforehand. His mother turned around to look at him and he kept his eyes on his feet. "Can I have a friend over for the weekend?" he asked more quietly than before, a little ashamed and a lot guilty. Since she worked so much, she wasn't much for guests or even her own family members for that matter.

She just nodded mumbling something about Takashima. Reita didn't correct her, when she thought it was Uruha staying over. Uruha was around a lot, which was why she probably expected it to be him.

"That's OK, I'll make dinner for one more." The tone was a little bitter, more than a little tired and clearly aimed to make her son feel bad about the decision. Reita could feel the guilt starting to grow and he tried his best to make it better:

"I can make dinner today", he offered and looked up at her carefully. He wasn't sure what to expect from his mother, who differed in moods from day to day. She wasn't always directly mean, but she could make Reita feel like he didn't do enough, make him feel guilty for not helping enough.

His mother offered him a small smile on her tired face, said a thank you before leaving for good. So he was left feeling better about the whole thing.

 

It took until noon for Ruki to wake up. By then Reita had cleaned up the kitchen, living room and changed the sheets in his mother's bed to clear his guilty conscience of having the younger boy over. All the while, he'd frequently checked in on Ruki to see if the other had awoken. Around noon the moment had arrived, he realized as he peeked into his room and found the boy sitting up with his cellphone in hand, texting. There was a small curve to those full lips as Ruki smiled softly.

Seeing the other there unaware of him made him feel like he was an intruder, like he was invading the younger boy's privacy. It didn't make any sense as it was his own room, Reita told himself as he opened the door completely and stepped in carefully. He didn't get too close to the bed, to Ruki, who had turned his eyes to look at him by then the smile gone from his lips.

"Hey", Ruki spoke up not seeming faced by how uncomfortable Reita felt at the situation or the distance the other was keeping. The younger didn't seem to be anything less than fairly comfortable, legs tugged underneath him, Reita's clothes big and loose on his body and bleached hair messy. There were a few more clicks as on his cellphone keyboard before he put it away into his pocket.

"Hey", Reita replied and went to close the door, he'd left open. His grandmother was outside attending their garden, but she could soon come inside and he wasn't sure how much Ruki would feel like socializing with an elderly woman. "Did you sleep well?" he asked daring to step closer to the bed. He put his hands into his pockets to not show Ruki, how he squeezed them into fists.

"Like I was dead", Ruki replied in a low voice, straight forwardly. "It's a compliment", he added afterwards in an amused tone and Reita guessed his facial expression had been shocked. Reita nodded his head in understanding, but wasn't sure what to say next.

"I know", Reita said and dared to come up to the bed and sit down with a sigh. He found it quite exhausting to have a conversation with Ruki, someone he barely knew, but yet knew something about that he maybe shouldn't have. There didn't seem to be a delicate way to address Ruki's situation, to actually speak about what really needed to be spoken about and how to handle it from there.

"So, what's the plan?" Reita asked not really knowing how to make the question he wanted to ask. The amount of information he wanted to know, could probably not be gathered with only one question, but that one(as lame and unspecified as it was) would cover quite a lot if answered.

He did however not get an answer, but a bored and questionable look from Ruki. "What plan?" the boy questioned back. "To take over the world? 5-year plan for a business?" he continued ridiculing Reita.

"No, I just… I mean, do you plan to stay the weekend", Reita mumbled out with a small, nervous laugh.

His dark eyes traveled over to where Ruki was still sitting on his bed with the big shirt falling down from one shoulder. That was where his eyes got stuck as the skin showed discoloration both a little yellowish and purple underneath the collarbone. It wasn't even clear how big an area was like that as the rest of the abused skin was covered by the shirt.

Ruki seemed to noticed as he lifted the shirt forcefully and without trying to hide the movement. It made Reita lift his eyes to the other's face and a pair of dark, narrowed eyes. Again he felt like the intruder in his room, like it was full of secrets he wasn't welcome in on.

"I¨d like to if I'm welcome", Ruki spoke in a stoic voice with underlying, suppressed emotions, that Reita could only guess at. It didn't sound like a request or like a plead, it sounded like something he was forced to say while actually not wanting to, like something he said while actually swallowing back something else.

"My mother said it was OK, so you are welcome if you like", Reita said slowly and carefully.

"I'll be sure to thank her then", Ruki said in a more relaxed voice. "So to answer your question", he continued with a tilt of his head as if thinking it over. "I'll have to say yes. Yes, I do plan on staying the weekend."

Reita laughed at the other and Ruki also smiled slightly smugly at his wittiness. Just to assure the other and himself, he nodded his head in agreement to what had been said.

"Well, it's lunch time, so nana will have it prepared soon, if you're hungry", Reita said then after a moment of silence and got up from the bed. He felt a little self-conscious for using nana while addressing his grandmother, but it felt so much more natural for him than speaking of her as grandmother. "For you I guess it'll be breakfast", he quickly added.

"Isn't everyone hungry, when they wake up?" Ruki asked rhetorically. "Your grandmother knows I'm here, right?" he asked then and moved to get off the bed. The black bag he had brought along had also been pulled with him. It had been beside Ruki's head the whole night in-between him and the wall securely.

"She does, she doesn't mind", Reita said and looked at Ruki, when the other began going through what was in the bag. "You know your way downstairs, right?" he asked, when he saw Ruki had found jeans and a long-sleeved shirt from his bag. There was no question about Ruki wanting to change his attire without Reita in the room, so he might as well be leaving without the other asking him to.

"I think I can manage", Ruki said a little sarcastically and gave Reita a lopsided smile as he waved a goodbye.

The table in the kitchen was set for three. Reita's grandmother was already sitting down and waiting with a magazine in her wrinkled hands. She looked up, when Reita arrived and her dark, kind eyes looked around a while after that.

"He's just getting dressed, he's coming down also", Reita told her before she could ask. There was no way to be sure of how well they would get along and he felt a little uneasy at the thought.

His worries turned out to be in vain. Ruki arrived downstairs and into the kitchen wearing the long-sleeved, black shirt and a pair of loose, grey jeans. Unlike at school his face was clear of make-up and his eyes looked slightly smaller. He'd combed through his earlier messy hair, but Reita could tell his grandmother was looking at the blond bleached hair in wonder.

"Hello", Ruki offered in a clear voice with a small bow to the elderly woman. He didn't exactly look comfortable with the situation, but didn't seem shy.

"Hello", she replied in a high voice. "Please sit down."

Ruki complied and Reita sat down as well. They began eating and after a moment of silence, where Reita's grandmother looked at Ruki carefully, she spoke up.

"That's an unusual hair color you have", she said to Ruki. The boy looked back at her with amused eyes, and Reita wasn't sure if he should let the other answer. There was however not enough time for him to interrupt, before Ruki answered:

"Then yours must even more unusual", he answered referring to the old woman's greyishly white hair.

The comment did not fail to amuse both Reita and his grandmother. The conversation continued on pleasantly with Ruki listening to her stories.

When his grandmother excused herself to go do more gardening, Reita was left alone with Ruki in the kitchen. There was no more talking and the only sounds came from the dishes Reita was placing in the cabinets and the slow, retreating footsteps of the old woman. Ruki was still sitting by the kitchen table and waited until he heard the front door close, before he spoke:

"She has to be the oldest person I've ever met", he said sounding a little amazed and clearly exaggerating.

"65", Reita informed. "I don't think she's that old for a grandmother. How old are your grandparents then?"

"I don't know", Ruki answered shortly and left the issue at that. It didn't fail to make Reita want to question why he didn't know, but he didn't want to bother Ruki with that(he wasn't sure if that could be one of buttons Ruki didn't want pushed). The other was moving on from the topic anyways:

"She's cool for such an old person. Probably cooler than Saga", Ruki declared and stood up from his place at the table. "She has better eyesight too."

The last part made Reita laugh and they continued talking, while Reita got around to start making dinner. Ruki had a sarcastic, ironic humor, that matched Reita's own. It made him forget that the younger boy was there to escape and not just to stay over otherwise. It felt comfortable to talk with the other, surprisingly so after the first few conversations he had with the boy.

"I'm home."

The hoarse, slightly out of breath voice sounded from the front door and Reita felt himself tense up. His mother was home. He knew by Ruki's amused expression that the other could tell he was nervous about the thing.

"It's my mom. Be nice", he instructed Ruki, who replied sarcastically:

"I'd rather be rude, but fine."

Reita didn't have the time to scold the other or say anything else, because then his mother walked into the kitchen. She looked more tired than when she left, dark circles under her heavy lidded eyes and her skin looking mat and a little grayish in color. The clothes she wore looked baggy on her and her black hair was tied back.

"Hey mom", Reita greeted her with a small smile and began taking out plates to the table. He and Ruki had finished making dinner some time ago and had just lingered in the kitchen talking. "Dinner is all ready now."

"Yes, thank you", Reita' mother said and fixed her tired eyes to Ruki. "Hello, I'm Akira's mother", she introduced herself politely and nodded her head.

"Matsumoto Takanori", Ruki answered with a small bow of his head as well. "I want to thank you for your hospitality", he continued on. He didn't sound as frigid with his tone as he did with Reita, when asking for anything or thanking him. It didn't exactly sound sincere, but polite.

"You're welcome", Reita's mother answered as politely with a small smile on her lips - Reita could already tell that she preferred Ruki's polite behavior to Uruha's more natural take on interactions. "I'll go get changed now", she said and made her way up the stairs to her bedroom - it was down the hall from Reita's own, while his grandmother had her room on the first floor.

Reita let out a breath and looked at Ruki with slightly surprised eyes. The younger boy looked back at him with a smug smile on his face and a raised eyebrow.

"Why the look? I know how to be polite, alright?" he said and helped Reita set out the plates for the four of them.

"You're not so polite to me", Reita answered with an raised eyebrow and a teasing tone.

"Take it as a compliment, I'm polite to people I don't like usually, but have to be polite to", Ruki said jokingly, but Reita thought there was probably more truth in that than most of what the other said. "If I'm rude to you, I probably like you a little better."

"Fair enough", Reita said and accepted the explanation.

Dinner went by quickly and without much conversation. Reita's mother answered question about how her shift at the hospital had been. Other than that there wasn't much conversation, just a few questions to Ruki about his background and how he knew Reita. That question had actually tensed up Reita a little, because he didn't know how to explain Ruki's situation. However the younger of the two took up the task to answer first:

"Advanced English class", he answered shortly to begin with and then continued: "We usually work together on the pair tasks and we get along well." The light brown eyes turned to look at Reita for confirmation and Reita nodded his head. He knew he might have blown the explanation if he decided to add anything.

They stayed to clean up the kitchen and the dishes, Reita's grandmother staying behind with them to tell them more stories about her life. Reita's mother was beat and retreated to her own room after dinner: she had decided to take another shift, which began at midnight, so she needed to rest. There was little he could do for the tired woman, nothing much to increase her energy level. He made her some food to bring along to work - it was mostly to make her feel better, but he couldn't deny that he wanted her to be in a better mood and didn't want her to have any reason to lash out at him(which hadn't happened as much lately as it had before).

It was getting late, the sun was setting outside. It shone lowly into the window of Reita's room and disturbed the screen of his small TV, which didn't show anything that was of interest to him. Ruki pushed the button on the remote, trying to find something that might have been nice. He was lying on his stomach, had the remote in one hand and the other supporting his head. His eyes squeezed as he tried to see what was on the screen. With a sigh, the younger boy gave up and dropped the remote and his blond head onto the bed.

"It'll set soon, then you can see better", Reita said. He'd tried to look at the screen as well, not really able to see much.

"Yea, I know", Ruki mumbled into the sheets. He raised himself up to sit and looked at Reita. "You want to go outside for awhile?" he asked suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere. There was no indication of where the whole idea came from, what lied behind or anything else, it took Reita a little by surprise.

"I guess we could", Reita answered a little slowly. By then Ruki was already getting up from the bed and preparing himself.

"I'll just borrow a hoodie or something, if that's OK", he said more than asked as he went through the clothes in Reita's closet. To Reita it seemed a little odd how at home the other seemed around his room, in his house. He could only nod his head yes getting up himself and also getting something warmer to put on himself.

The air outside was pleasantly chilly and fresh. Reita breathed it in with a feeling of freedom and relief. Being at home all day, he didn't usually notice how much he missed getting away from there, it only hit him, when he stepped outside. Mondays felt like a blessing sometimes, since his school days were so long, he didn't have time to be at home. He tried not to think of them that way, since it woke an unpleasant feeling inside him, one that had the feel of laziness, a reminder of laundry to be washed, money to be made or dishes to be washed. One that he knew had his mother written all over it, but he couldn't help.

"Your sister doesn't live at home anymore?"

The question woke him from his thoughts, which he didn't mind. 

"She moved out a year ago. She has an apartment in the city." It was the spoken answer, which was accompanied by a shook of his head no. Then something occurred to him:

"How do you know I have a sister?" he asked a little confused and turned to look at Ruki. The blond boy smirked at him obviously once more satisfied with himself.

"Takashima does love to talk about you", he answered. "Expecially if you shared one of these with him", he continued and took a cigarette out of the pocket of his hoodie. "You smoke?"

"No", Reita answered and once again shook his head no. Sometimes he felt tempted to, wanted to try, because he knew it would upset his mother, so he would do it out of the small part in him that despised her: it was something he could do in secrecy from her, a silent rebellion against her. But so far he had not allowed himself to.

"Suit yourself", Ruki mumbled and lighted his cigarette. The lighter he had looked nice to Reita, a silvery zippo one with some kind of words carved into it.

They continued walking down the deserted streets, turning corners to walk a circle back home.

"She moved away, because she didn't like your mother, right?" Ruki asked and blew out smoke. Reita wondered if that was another fact Uruha had told the younger boy or if Ruki had been clever enough to think of it himself. Either seemed equally possible to him.

"They didn't get along very well. Still don't", Reita answered not sure how to talk about the matter. It wasn't exactly secret, he didn't find it embarrassing or difficult for himself, but it was hard to explain why his sister had moved out, how his mother had driven her to that point.

"Women are difficult like that", Ruki said with a shrug of his shoulders. He'd finished his cigarette and threw onto the pavement and stepped on it as he walked past it. "How old is your sister anyways?"

"She's 18", Reita answered. "But she's working, so she can pay her rent and all."

"Sounds good", Ruki said. By then they turned back to the street Reita lived on. "It really was nice with some fresh air", he changed the subject. There was a small grin on his face at the statement.

"Real fresh, yes", Reita agreed sarcastically.

"And the sun is all set, so TV time next", Ruki said. It was meant to sound casual, but there was an excitement to the tone, that Reita didn't miss. Ruki continued as he'd also heard, how excited he sounded: "I like horror and on saturday nights, they usually have horror movies on some channels."

"Alright, but we can't have the volume up to loud", Reita agreed. "What time is it?" he asked afterwards. He felt it was so dark, that he wasn't sure anymore. It had come slowly as they had walked around, the sun suddenly setting for good.

"Nine thirty", Ruki replied as he checked it from the screen of his cell phone. They stood in front of the door to Reita's house by then, but Reita hadn't made a move to open the door yet.

"OK, we should be real quiet then", Reita said tone a little nervous and a lot serious. Ruki nodded his head looking a little bored by the whole deal. Slowly and carefully Reita let them into the house. It was quiet inside, and it felt like the front door opening alone was like a bomb dropping. Reita tried to be as quiet as he could with the doors and they tiptoed on their way to Reita's room.

Once the door to Reita's bedroom closed, Reita let out a sigh. It felt like he could breathe at ease again for awhile, having avoided any disaster getting into the room.

"You seriously have to be home, before nine thirty on weekends?" Ruki asked a little skeptically.

"No, but I don't want to wake mom up. She has to sleep, before going to work, you know?" Reita asked rhetorically. There was nothing to be ashamed off with that confession, but he felt like Ruki was judging him for it.

"You're such a good boy", Ruki said a little mockingly. The younger boy had already taken a place on Reita's bed and searched through the channels. "There's movie beginning here in twenty minutes", he announced. 

"We can watch that if you want", Reita answered. It didn't matter much to him, but he felt better with this subject than the previous.

"I want to watch it." Ruki's voice was confident and sure. He turned to look at Reita. "I thought about changing clothes first though", he said.

"Go on then", Reita said not paying attention enough to understand the meaning behind the sentence. He was stripping of his own hoodie and shirt without much care. He wasn't exactly confident about his body, but not ashamed either: it was slender and rather bony, where he'd rather have a body with a little more muscle. He looked through his closet with his back to Ruki and the bed, while looking for something else to wear.

There was a moment of silence, before Ruki spoke up:

"OK, but if you turn around and look, I'll break your nose."

The sentence made Reita tense up and he almost turned around out of reflex. It was a good thing he didn't, because he heard how Ruki began moving around and removing the clothes he was wearing. It was like a weird wake up call for him, a reality check: he had actually forgotten about the bruises and the abuse, about the whole reason Ruki was staying over. The younger boy seemed so normal joking around, talking with Reita and all, it was confusing. Wasn't a boy with that kind of background supposed to be more broken up about it?

"I'm all done."

The announcement was spoken in a clear, strong voice. It was a voice that Reita would have never placed to an abused teenager. He turned around to find Ruki in his sweatpants, long sleeved shirt and serious look on his face. His eyes dared Reita to say anything about the matter, because he would be ready for it. And Reita didn't say anything related to that.

"OK, let's watch the movie then", he said instead and got on the bed with Ruki. He was careful with not getting too close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment !

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to comment !


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